ANSONIA -- Over seven school districts in Connecticut, and even some colleges, have been wasting a lot of police resources on social media clown threats.
Parents who have children at Ansonia Middle School say when they heard three students in that town alone were arrested, they were frustrated by this behavior, but terrified for their children.
Carmen Rios read FOX 61 part of one of these posts saying, "...We will break down the building if you don't let us in. There will be a whole gang of clowns waiting to kill everyone. Have a nice day."
Stephanie Concepcion says, "My husband was like, "I don't want to send her to school. At this point, do we feel safe sending our kids to school?"
Ansonia Police say the phones were ringing for over three hours Tuesday night, once parents saw the threatening post and learned about the arrests.
Two teenage girls from the middle school were arrested after school around 5 o'clock Tuesday night. A 16 year-old girl from Emmett O'Brien Technical High School was arrested Wednesday morning. Police were already on scene with extra patrols outside all schools because of the arrests Tuesday night. Lieutenant Patrick Lynch says, "Threatening in the First Degree is a Class D Felony." Another student from Beacon Falls was also arrested for threats in four towns.
If this had happened during school hours where the building was evacuated, or the school had to close or cancel events, the penalties would increase under a new law which took effect October 1st.
Concepcion and Rios say they've already warned their kids about inappropriate social media posts. Rios says, "These kids these days. They don't understand. I don't know what's going on in their brains."
